Children of a Parallel Time
by PirateAngel1286
Summary: Strange events a few days before Christmas lead the human Doctor and Rose to meet with certain familiar faces that help in their own, important ways. Post JE 10.5/Rose
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Doctor Who franchise. It's owners know who they are and I can't take that away (no matter how much I want to).

Here is a new story that I've been working on and am enjoying writing very much. Though it is a bit of a Christmas story, I hope you all enjoy it. Slightly cliffhanger ending.

* * *

Rose Tyler shook her head in annoyance as she followed her mother around the gigantic living room checking things off on a list as the woman stated what was finished and what still needed to be done for their big Christmas party.

"And the dessert table is over there. There now isn't that wonderful," Jackie Tyler said putting her hands on her hips and nodding her blonde head.

"Mum, I really have to go and get ready," Rose said pointing to the nearby stairs, "You know how long it takes..."

"What?" the distracted woman asked, sniffing a rose in a vase.

"I need to go-"

"Of course dear, no need to say anything else. I'll send the girls up to help and-"

"Mum I'm twenty-two years old and I think I can do this on my own by now. I don't need hairdressers or any of the staff to help me."

A phone rang somewhere in the distance and Jackie walked off to see who it was. When it was clear that her mum wasn't coming back, Rose loudly made her way up the stairs to her old bedroom from when they first arrived. Turning on her lamp, Rose collapsed onto her bed and stared up at the purple ceiling. Bringing her hands behind her head she simply lay there before finally building up the energy to get up and begin the long process of looking perfect (or close to it) for the party. It was going to be her first proper Christmas with the (human) Doctor and it had taken her ages to find the perfect something to give him. It was a long and difficult search as there wasn't really much she could buy for him because, really, what do you give a man who has seen just about everything the universe had to offer? At least twice at that! After much soul searching she finally came to a conclusion and she really hoped he would like it.

**

* * *

**The Doctor stared at his reflection in the mirror trying to remember why he agreed to wear a tux when previously he was so against it. Remembering all the alien and robot attacks while in it brought it all back and he nodded, running his hands through his hair trying to make it look right. Right being equivalent to messy of course.

Tonight was the annual Tyler Family Christmas Party and Rose had invited him to come since they were co-workers and he was lonely. Oh, and they were friends...

The Doctor finally after months and months felt like he was completely assimilated to this human world. He had friends, he had co-workers, he had an apartment all his own. Rose and the Doctor often laughed over lunches about the next step being the frightful mortgage. The memory of their most recent conversation on the subject brought a smile to his face.

Looking around the apartment one last time, the Doctor grabbed his keys and went out the door. A second or two later, he popped back in, grabbed his gift for Rose and left again.

**

* * *

**The guests were arriving and the Doctor waited his turn entering the house like everyone else. Everyone looked just so posh and rich it made him very uncomfortable. Of course he was technically a lord his own just without any of his species perks. Like the whole 'lack of proper death' part.

Finally arriving at the door, the butler allowed him inside after the Doctor showed his invitation. The Doctor smiled at him and offered a Happy Christmas but received no reply.

"Right then," the Doctor said scratching his head and stepping to his left, searching the room for anyone he recognized.

"Well you're here early then," a voice said behind him. It was Jackie Tyler with Pete by her side, dressed to the nines. She stood to her highest and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Well I didn't really have reason to dawdle. Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas Doctor," Pete said shaking his hand.

Jackie smiled and nodded her head to the stairs while winking. "Rose should be down in a mo. Always going to the last minute that girl. If you'll excuse us we've got more guests to welcome."

And with that Jackie wrapped her arm around Pete's and the two walked away together. The Doctor stood in the middle of the room as people walked around him when suddenly a pair of hands covered his eyes.

"Guess who?" a lady with a Londoner's accent whispered in his ear.

The Doctor moved away and took in the sight of Rose. If there was one thing he could say then it was most definitely that she resembled a rose tonight. She was wearing a very beautiful floor-length, off the shoulder red gown and matching shoes. Her hair was done up in an elegant knot and her makeup was simply skin-toned with bright red lipstick. She hadn't even bothered with jewelry.

"Do you like it?" she asked doing a little twirl for him.

The Doctor needed to swallow and try to catch his breath; he felt as though he might lose consciousness otherwise. "You look gorgeous," he said before kissing her on the cheek.

He extended his own arm to her and the two walked off in the direction of the punch bowl. "Going for the fancy tonight?" the Doctor asked handing her a cup.

"Well, it just sort of felt right you know. It being the holidays and all."

"Of course."

The two lapsed into an unusual silence.

"I see you're in a tux again. Don't think there's going to be any attacks?" Rose asked with a grin.

The Doctor chuckled softly. "I doubt it. I'm almost sure that this might actually be a normal Christmas holiday and we'll all simply be back to work in two days."

"Well good then, I suppose. To normal holidays," Rose said raising her glass.

The Doctor gave her a lopsided grin. "To normal holidays."

They both drank just as someone walked into the Doctor causing him to dribble a bit on his collar.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, let me help you with that," a woman's voice said from his left.

"No, it's all right." The Doctor turned to tell her to stop her when he stopped in his tracks. "Sarah Jane?"

* * *

Thank you for reading. Another new chapter will hopefully be here soon. More characters to come.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: None of this is mine but it belongs to other people.

Thanks everyone for reading the first chapter. I really hope that this one lives up to whatever expectations you might have for the story. Really fast, I am using the name Jonathan Stewart for the Doctor in this story. When conceiving the idea, I picked Stewart for the last name mainly because of Patrick Stewart who was in Hamlet with David. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Also, this is the parallel world so not everything is exactly the same. Finally, italics are for when the aliens are talking. That's all for now. Enjoy. :)

* * *

"Sarah Jane?" Had he actually said that out loud? The woman looked at him very confused and shook her head.

"Have we met before? Um, I'm sorry but I never forget a face and..."

"Ah, Jonathan, there you are," Pete Tyler said, moving among the crowd with another man by his side.

The Doctor looked to Rose but she looked just as confused as he did.

"There you are Sarah," the man with Pete said. He walked over to her and gave her a kiss causing her to blush.

"Jonathan, Rose, this is Peter and Sarah Dalton. Peter is my new business partner and I invited him and his wife and son to get to some, well, connections."

"Ah," the Doctor said while nodding. He extended his hand to Sarah and then to Peter. "Jonathan Stewart; pleasure to meet you."

Sarah Jane didn't say anything in reply but still gave him a look. Rose then walked over and properly introduced herself as well.

"So," Sarah Jane said clapping her hands together, "are you two a couple or-"

"Not properly yet," the Doctor said scratching the back of his ear. At the same time Rose said while waving her hands in front of her, "we're just mates really."

"I see," Sarah Jane said with a knowing smile. "Best be off to find my son then. It was nice meeting the two of you." She took Peter Dalton's hand and walked away.

The Doctor then turned back to Rose and stared at her. "I swear I really had no idea there was a Sarah Jane here, in this universe."

"No, I'm not blaming you or anything. It's just a bit...odd."

"I know."

They both turned around to look at the couple.

"She looks so happy," the Doctor whispered.

Rose took his hand and the Doctor looked into her eyes. She gave him a smile and after a moment he smiled back slowly.

"Let's go see about some food," Rose said.

"Oh good, I love nibbles."

**

* * *

**_Is the target locked?_

_Locked and centered sir._

_Fire away then._

**

* * *

**"And so literally the Host had to carry me all the way up to the Captain's cabin and I finally met the voice belonging to Midshipman Frame. You'll never guess in a million years what his name was."

"Doctor?"

"Oh come on."

Rose and the Doctor had managed to find a seat by the fireplace. They were sitting fairly close to each other and Rose was leaning her head on the Doctor's shoulder.

"Come on now guess."

"I can't think of-"

"Alonzo."

"No," Rose said sitting up and grinning.

"Yes; Alonzo, an actual Alonzo can you believe it?"

"And I'm assuming you said it of course."

"Well how could I possibly miss an opportunity like that. What are the chances of meeting another one, eh?"

"Doctor you truly are one of a kind."

"Well, two of a kind if you thought about it hard enough."

The Doctor felt that this might be a good moment. He reached into his pocket to remove the gift he had bought for her when someone began to clink a glass. The Doctor looked around and Rose finally noticed her Mum and Pete standing by the stairs, looking like they were ready to give a speech. Jackie opened her mouth when suddenly the ground began to shake.

Rose yelped before grabbing onto the Doctor to avoid falling down. "What's that?" she asked.

Cell phones began to ring throughout the room, Rose's and the Doctor's included. Around the room people were panicking and a few women had either fainted or begun screaming. Rose went over to check on them along with Sarah Jane.

The Doctor meanwhile went to go ask Pete what the problem was. Pete hung up his phone and looked very white-faced.

"Attention everyone," he said. It seemed that no one heard him as they were still all in an uproar.

"OI, QUIET DOWN YOU LOT!" the Doctor shouted.

"Thank you Jonathan," Pete said a bit flustered. "All personnel you are needed right away. The rest of you please leave the premises in an orderly fashion."

"But what's going on?" someone from the crowd shouted.

"Felt like an earthquake!" someone else said.

"We're looking into it now please everyone calm down. You'll each get a special something upon your exit. Jackie?"

"Right this way everyone. It'll all be just fine you'll see. Tomorrow morning we'll all be bustling about just like always."

Jackie led everyone to the foyer while all Torchwood staff remained behind including Peter Dalton who first gave his wife a kiss and sent her and his son away.

"Everyone needs to get to headquarters as soon as they can," Pete said finally, "I just got word of an alien ship attacking the city. Move it."

"Come on Doctor," Rose said taking his hand, "I've got a spare change of clothes upstairs."

The Doctor followed her up the stairs into her bedroom. She shut the door behind her and walked to her closet just as the Doctor removed his tie.

"I told you these suits were poisonous on me," he said disgruntled.

"Try not to think about the bad," Rose said throwing him a shirt and pair of jeans that she had hanging up.

"Have you had any aliens attacking without my being around before? On the holidays?" the Doctor asked taking off his jacket.

Rose remained in the rather large closet to dress in privacy. "Once. On Boxing Day. Terrible bug-like creatures that thankfully Jake and I were able to subdue."

"Where was Jake tonight anyway?" the Doctor asked as he walked over to the mirror to look himself over and fix his hair.

"Some people stayed behind for observations. Jake doesn't ever come to the party anyway now that I think about it."

Rose stepped out and gave herself the once over before taking the Doctor's hand and leading them downstairs.

Pete was still on the phone and not out of his suit yet. Rose gave him a kiss on the cheek before walking the two of them to the door, grabbing her keys and purse and leaving.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Doctor Who is owned by other people and most unfortunately not myself and I doubt I ever will.

Another new chapter everyone. Thank you again to everyone reading it. I hope you enjoy it.

* * *

The Doctor practically had his entire head sticking outside the window as they drove so Rose had to pull him back inside and chide him.

"Get in here! I don't want to explain why our new field agent lost his head on the way to headquarters," she said while glaring at him.

The Doctor snorted at that. "New field agent; there's a laugh. I've been on the 'field'," he said making air quotes with his fingers, "for centuries."

"Well they don't have any reason to know that here. Only myself, Jake and Pete do. And they don't want you decapitated either."

They arrived at Torchwood and the Doctor looked up upon exiting the car to see a laser beam shoot out from the sky and strike a nearby building setting it on fire.

"That's never a good thing," he said, grabbing Rose's hand and pulling her inside the Torchwood building.

They went right to the lift and the Doctor pushed the button for the seventh floor. He tapped his foot until they arrived, completely annoying Rose in the process but dutifully ignoring that. The door opened and they walked out still hand in hand.

Employees from all levels were bustling about, talking loudly, answering phone calls and typing furiously on their computers.

"I have one witness who says it was a flying saucer and another who says it was shaped like a giant di-"

"Yes, we have everything under control now if you'll just tell us...now there's no need for such language ma'am."

"Jake!" Rose shouted over the chaos.

"Over here Rose!"

The Doctor pointed in the direction he heard the voice and they finally reached the elusive man who was hunched over a desk writing down more information.

"Thank you sir," Jake said before finally hanging up the phone.

"Swamped?" the Doctor asked.

"Completely; Mr. Tyler here yet?" Jake asked standing and walking away with a mug to get coffee.

"No, we left before him. Is there any information you can give us?" Rose asked.

Jake reached the coffee and poured before tasting and grimacing because it had gotten cold. "Who turned off the coffee?" he shouted.

"Jake, focus. What can you tell us?" Rose asked again.

Jake opened his mouth to respond when another blast struck somewhere nearby causing the floor to shake. From the yells coming a few floors higher it was Torchwood itself this time that was the target.

"Are they just aiming for random buildings?" Rose asked.

"No, just the important ones. I think. We've got to get everyone out of here now move it!" the Doctor said as the building began to shake once again.

Jake ran to the nearest fire alarm and set it off. "Everyone out of the building now. It's not safe. We'll reconvene-" Jake started to say.

"At the Tyler Mansion now move it!" Rose finished.

The Doctor stood by the nearby stairwell and held the door open. "Don't take the lifts for goodness sake! Was I the only one listening in that fire-safety seminar? Stairs only. Emergency, now go."

Once the floor was evacuated they moved onto the next and continued until everyone was safely on the ground below.

**

* * *

**Rose drove as fast as she could back to the mansion with the hope of stopping Pete before he attempted to leave himself.

"Do you think Torchwood will still be standing?" Rose asked.

The Doctor thought it over for a second before nodding. "Should be fine considering-"

"Considering what?" she asked making a sharp turn around the corner. They arrived at the mansion a few minutes later and drove up to the garage.

"Considering they aimed for the roof. I think we're being sent some sort of message," the Doctor said exiting his seatbelt.

"Come on. We have to get inside and let Pete know we're all right," Rose said as the Doctor exited the car.

The Doctor was about to tell her that he wanted to stay out for a moment to think and wait for the others when he suddenly felt an indescribable warmth wash over him. He looked at his lucky right hand that was glowing with a strange green light and he only had enough time to look Rose in the eyes just seconds before he vanished completely.

"Doctor? DOCTOR!" Rose shouted as she looked around. Rose waited another few minutes but knew she had no other choice but to run inside and tell her father that the Doctor had been taken captive.

**

* * *

**Waking up, the Doctor put his hand to his head trying to stop the dizziness that threatened to continue to envelop him.

"Always hated transport without a TARDIS," he murmured.

The Doctor was in a strange glass-fronted, white, empty, tiny cell. He went over to the glass and began to bang on it, trying to get anyone's attention but it didn't seem like there was anyone nearby. After a few minutes he just stopped.

"Hello?" he tried asking. "Sorry if this is me being rude, seeing as how I can sort of be like that sometimes, but can you lot tell me why the bloody hell I'M TRAPPED IN HERE!"

"Sorry but it's not going to work," a voice from somewhere said. It sounded familiar but he just couldn't really place it.

"Who said that? Where are you?" he asked, walking around the cell.

"Next cell over; I'm Melissa."

"Well Melissa, I'm Jonathan Stewart codename 'The Doctor'. I like that; codename - like James Bond. Tell me do you have anyone in your cell with you?"

"No, it's just me. Too small for anyone else besides me really. Anyway, been here about a few hours now I suppose. Watch stopped working."

"Hmm, Melissa your voice sounds familiar to me but for the life of me, which has been quite short in all honesty, I cannot figure out from where. What's your last name?"

She seemed to hesitate for a moment before saying, "Jones. Melissa Jones."

The Doctor stopped in his tracks and slowly looked up to the ceiling, sticking his tongue out to the top of his lip. He grinned widely a second afterwards. It seemed that he had possibly just found the parallel equivalent of one former companion Martha Jones.

* * *

School starts again next week so writing time might be a little cut off but I'll still be updating. We'll see how things go once everything is settled. Thank you very much once again. Please let me knnow what you think.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Doctor Who doesn't belong to me. I'm making absolutely no profit.

Thank you all for reading. Italics are thoughts. Enjoy.

* * *

Rose Tyler was beside herself with worry. For the last twenty minutes she was searching through the Torchwood archives trying to find anything related to the aliens who were invading. Without anything at all to go on as a lead however, she stopped and put her head in her hands desperate to not throw something against the far wall. "Why? Why do we not have any information?"

"Now, now," Jake said taking a seat beside her and handing her a cup of coffee, "you know we haven't got all the information of the universe. Why don't you stop for a few minutes and maybe something will come to you?"

"But the Doctor-"

"Will be jus' fine. Honestly, did you forget who he is?"

"Who he _was_. He's human and only has one life. If I lose him now then it's all not worth a damn."

Jake opened his arms and Rose put down her coffee and climbed into them as he gently began rubbing her back to relax her.

"Ms. Tyler we've got a report of another abduction, fifteenth one this hour-" one of the Torchwood staff said but Jake cut them off.

"Just leave the paper and she'll take care of it later," Jake said.

The man dropped the paper and Jake stopped rubbing. "There now, feel better?" Jake asked.

Rose nodded as she reached over and grabbed the paper about the abduction. She stared at it for a few minutes before the face looking back at her finally sunk in. "Melissa Jones," she murmured while flipping through the pages.

"You know her?" Jake asked.

Rose looked up at him and sighed. "Sort of; in another life."

**

* * *

**The Doctor was sitting in the corner of his tiny white cell when the front glass slid upwards allowing a being entrance. This alien was very tall and somewhat stern looking and, most importantly, distinctly male. He also wore robes rather than regular clothes, his being a royal blue. The Doctor himself stood over six feet and this thing towered even higher than him.

"Hello," the Doctor said attempting to use humility instead of showing any fear.

_Salutations,_ the being said without even opening their mouth.

The Doctor's eyebrows rose and he nodded. "Ah, a true telepath! Haven't seen many of your lot recently."

The man continued to walk forward and once he finally reached the Doctor, he took out some sort of cylindrical object shaped like a pen and placed it against the Doctor's neck. It pinched him and immediately the Doctor passed out.

_The human is incapacitated,_ the being said.

_Excellent, bring him to us,_ a voice said back.

**

* * *

**"We're receiving a visual," Jane, one of the computer consultants said to get everyone's attention.

"Patch it through Ms. Turner," Pete said.

Everyone gathered around the giant screen as a blurry image slowly cleared. It showed a man's face with a frown upon it; he stepped away revealing several people, all of which were unconscious and looked to be lying on white bed-like slabs. They all had strange silver collars around their necks that seemed to shimmer.

Rose's eyes hungrily looked at all of them until she finally found the Doctor at the very end. He was asleep just like everyone else looking so innocent. She knew she couldn't cry though, he wouldn't want that.

Pete put an arm around her shoulder and looked back at the screen. "What do we do in exchange for the captives?" Pete was very careful not to say 'What do you want us to do?'

_In exchange for the captives we want you to surrender,_ the voice said off camera.

"Surrender...what exactly?"

The face appeared on the screen again. _We want you to surrender,_ he said using his telepathy.

The screen went blank and no one took as much as a breath of air.

"Someone triangulate the signal. Kelvin, Burns, Long, Jake and Rose, with me," Pete said taking control once again. They walked into Pete's home office and shut the door.

**

* * *

**When the message was finished, the second in command of the Epitheca L't race pressed a button on his own collar to awaken the humans.

_Up,_ he commanded them.

The humans looked around in confusion as their bodies moved of their own accord into a line and with a small nudge they went out the door. The Doctor tried to ask a question but when he opened his mouth no noise came out so he tried again. _Was I just asleep? That was odd,_ he thought to himself.

The line stopped moving and one of the aliens pulled him out of it.

_What's going on?_ the Doctor thought. Suddenly he realized that the enemies were hearing his thoughts. This was no good at all. _Are these vocal inhibitors?_ he asked pointing to the silver collar.

The alien raised their hand and the Doctor flinched.

_Because that would be really wizard if they are, you know what I mean?_ he said.

It squeezed its hand into a fist and the Doctor felt as though someone was choking him. He could not take in a single breath! When he felt close to fainting, the being stopped the assault. The Doctor put a shaky hand to his neck and stood trying not to think anything again.

_Back in line human._

The Doctor took a place and looked behind himself to see a familiar face. "You must be Melissa Jones," he mouthed.

She gave him a quick nod and smile before they were forced to move forward again. If she was anything like the Martha he knew then they would no doubt be out of there in no time.

* * *

I wasn't too creative with the name of the alien race. I'm not so good at that sort of thing. Thank you again for reading though. I hope it was to your enjoyment. More soon.


	5. Chapter 5

With the cell door closed behind them, everyone just stared at each other and avoided talking. All save for one of course.

"So, where're we all from?" the Doctor asked crossing his arms.

"Are you kidding me?" one of the captives, a teenage boy said a second later, "we've been captured by bleeding aliens and you're going on about where we're from. You're mental mate."

No one said anything else for a few minutes until finally a woman in her mid-fifties said, "Chiswick."

"Leeds," a twenty year old girl said.

"And I'm from London," Melissa said. She walked over to the Doctor and extended her hand. "Jonathan Stewart, I presume," she said smiling.

"More or less," the Doctor said moving his head from side to side as he shook her hand. The two of them walked away from the others and began talking quietly to each other.

"Have we met before; I swear I've seen you somewhere...?" Melissa asked.

The Doctor steered clear of that question and moved onto another. "So, what do you do Ms. Jones?"

"I'm a student. In University you know. Studying to be-"

"A doctor?"

"I wish," Melissa said smiling. "No, I'm studying to be a journalist. It's a lot of studying and trying my hardest but-are you all right?"

The Doctor had begun smiling and laughed a little before shaking his head. "Nothing, you just remind me of an old friend of mine."

The two lulled into silence and stared around the room at all the nervous people.

"It's a good thing they took those necklace things off," Melissa said, unconsciously rubbing her own neck.

"I know. What I worry about now is when they make us put them back on again." The Doctor said this while giving her a sidelong glance and walking away to the far wall to think.

Melissa stood there and stared after him for a moment, still trying to figure out why he looked so familiar but in the end gave up and went to sit with the other captives and try to hope for all of this to end safely and no one having to do anything stupid to get them out of it.

**

* * *

**The decision that Pete's group came to was basically to go calling on some of the homes of the people who were taken and hope that someone would have a clue. So far, of the thirty or so people reported as missing, none of them had any new information.

Rose was at the final home on her list, the Jones household. She looked once more at the picture of the girl who was one of her beloved's "former companions" and felt the tiniest bit sick to her stomach. She walked slowly up to the door and rang the bell. The door opened right away and a woman who could only be Mart-Melissa's mother answered. Her eyes were all red and Rose could hear others in the house talking.

"May I help you?" the woman asked, her voice cracking ever so slightly.

"Hello, I'm from the Torchwood Institute," Rose said, flashing her official identification card.

"Please, come in." Mrs. Jones opened the door and Rose thanked her with the nod of her head. She was brought into the parlor where the group of people who were talking stopped and stared at her.

"Hello, my name is Rose," she said after a silent moment looking each of them in the eye.

"She's from Torchwood," Mrs. Jones said taking an empty seat next to her husband.

With all eyes upon her, Rose decided to start talking. "Yes, I'm from Torchwood. You might have heard of us, shortly after the Cybermen attack. I didn't join the Institute until a few years afterwards but-"

"Is it true your lot fights 'aliens'?" Mr. Jones asked, taking his wife's hand.

"Where did you hear that?" Rose asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Rumors have been going around for years. Is it true then, has my little girl been abducted like in those movies?" he asked again.

"...We think so, yes. But my... best friend was abducted as well. We're trying our hardest to find them but we don't have many clues to go on. Were any of you there when Melissa was abducted?"

"I was standing right next to her," one of Melissa's siblings said. Rose remembered reading in the file that her name was Tish.

Everyone looked at her and she coughed a moment to catch her bearings before continuing.

"This sort of bright green light surrounded her and a second later she was gone completely. It was like something out of those…well science-fiction movies."

"All right; how soon before or afterwards did you feel the earthquake," Rose asked calmly pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"A few minutes after I suppose."

"And it was a green light you say?"

"Yes."

"What then? Neon, grass-colored, mossy, hazel?"

"Bright but I wouldn't exactly call it neon, maybe a step below it like in a rainbow."

Rose asked a few more questions but needed to stop when her cell phone rang. She excused herself and went to answer in the hallway.

"Rose Tyler here."

"Rose, its Jake. Your Father wants you back at HQ; we're getting another transmission."

"Be right there," she said and hung up. She went back to the Jones' and everyone looked at her.

"Have you gotten new information?" Mr. Jones asked.

"We might. I've got to get going," she said reaching into her purse. "If you see or hear anything else please don't hesitate to call. I'll pick up."

Rose left a card with Torchwood's number on it and ran out. Mrs. Jones walked over and picked up the card. It had just the number on it, no company name and scrawled on the back was Rose's name and cell phone number.

**

* * *

**Rose was back at the mansion in less than ten minutes and she had to drive clear across town to get there. She ran into the main room where everyone was standing around a screen waiting for the transmission to come through properly. A young face appeared through the snow. No one that anyone recognized but the woman had to be no older than Rose herself.

"Um, hello my name is Angelica Justice. I'm twenty-six and come from the city of Leeds in the UK. Please, don't attack the Epitheca L't race. Any provoking and all of us captives will be murdered immediately. Mum, Dad if you're seeing this then I miss you. And Craig, I love you. My answer is yes."

Tears streamed down the girl's cheeks and she reached out a hand as though to touch something beyond the screen. When she was about to feel it, the transmission ended and the screen went blank. Everyone was silent for several minutes afterward until everyone began moving about all at once.

"Do we have a location?" Pete asked.

The workers typing on the computers needed a few moments when one of them finally nodded.

"Affirmative. Fifty-five thousand feet above the moon and getting closer every minute."

* * *

Thanks for reading everyone. At this moment, I'm not completely sure I'm going to be able to update next week. Schoolwork sort of needs to come first so if I have the time then I'll post it and if not then I'll try to get it up as soon as I can.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own any piece of the Doctor Who franchise and am making no profits from posting this.

I managed to have a bit of free time this weekend thank goodness :D. I hope you enjoy the chapter as much as I had writing it.

* * *

Melissa just stared at the man, this Jonathan, as he continued talking to himself trying to figure out some way of getting everyone to safety. Several minutes before, Angelica had been returned to them but she refused to say anything about what they had made her do after she was taken away.

"I just wish we knew when they were going to bring us back," Angelica said between her sobs.

"That's if they send us back," an older, fifty or so year old gentleman named David said with a frown set upon his face as he shook his head.

"Now don't go thinking like that," Jonathan murmured from his corner.

"And what makes you so sure that these alien freaks are going to let us go!" David shouted. A few of the others also joined in on his tirade.

Jonathan held up his hand as though fending them off. "Now, listen to me, I am being totally realistic," he said in an attempt to placate the man. "Trust me. Look me in the eyes. See, being completely realistic here."

"You're giving these people false hope!"

"Boy, you are a shouter you know."

"What are you going to do then Doctor?" Melissa asked.

Jonathan turned to look at her and smiled. "You called me Doctor," he said happily.

"You said it was your codename or whatever," Melissa said, a bit of frustration making its way into her voice. "Have you thought of anything yet?"

"Sadly no," he said looked to the ground and then up again before saying in all honesty. "But I will. Trust me."

A few people, David included either snorted or made angry comments but others tried to shush them.

"So what ideas do you have so far then?" Angelica asked.

**

* * *

**Rose was sitting on the couch by the window in the sitting room when she heard someone with high heels walk up to her. She looked up and there was Sarah Jane, holding a cup of tea out in front of her as though it were a peace-offering. She handed it to Rose who accepted it with a nod and Sarah Jane took a seat by her side. "My husband told me what happened to your partner. I'm so sorry," Sarah said.

"He's more than that, he's my best friend," Rose said taking a tentative sip trying not to burn her mouth. Changing the subject, she said, "so I take it you aren't completely in the dark about all of, well, this; your husband's work an all...?"

"Peter pretty much tells me everything. Of course it's just as much for him as it is for me, having someone to share with if things are a bit too intense."

"And you have a son, does he know anything about...all of this alien business?"

"Not a thing but when he isn't studying or out with his mates, then he'll be taking care of our dog," Sarah said proudly. "Collie, German shepherd mix. Named Doctor."

Rose almost spat out her tea and attempted not to laugh. At Sarah Jane's frown, Rose giggled trying to cover it. "Sorry but that's such an unusual name," she said by way of an apology.

"Well my son was about three at the time and we had just promised him if he'd get a shot without so much as crying we'd get him a puppy. It worked and for some odd reason he called him Doctor. It just sort of stuck."

"Is he an energetic dog?" Rose asked, grinning.

"Oh extremely. Barks at the slightest things. Runs all over the house."

The two laughed for minutes on end, both for different reasons.

"Maybe we should have him meet my Mum's puppy Rose," Rose said.

Sarah sobered. "That sounds like a good idea. I've wanted to invite your Mum over for tea one afternoon. Perhaps once things are settled and things go back to normal after the holidays it can be arranged, hmm?"

"Oh yes, I'm sure she'd love that."

After a moment's pause, Rose gave Sarah Jane a hug which was really the most helpful in calming her down.

"There, there," Sarah said moving away and tucking a strand of hair behind Rose's ear, "they'll all be brought back safe and sound."

Rose nodded. "If I know anything about Jonathan Stewart, he wouldn't have it any other way."

**

* * *

**The Doctor tried knocking on all four walls of the cell listening for any weak points that might be useful in staging their escape. "Times like this, I wish I still had a stethoscope on me," he murmured at one point. Kicking the wall a few minutes later, he turned around and crossed his arms against his chest sighing.

"Giving up?" David asked cheerfully.

"Giving up," the Doctor mimicked in a fake, high-pitched voice.

"Did you find anything though?" Melissa asked while glaring at the other man.

"I think at this point in time," the Doctor said running his hand through his hair messing it up more, "the best is to fake injury."

"...Is that seriously all you've got?" Melissa asked.

"Well…," he said trying to convince the others, "all someone needs to do is fall to the floor, maybe fake a spasm of some kind and then the rest of us could attempt to overtake the others and run out. I'm willing to do it myself, I can stay behind but you lot need to get as far away from here as you can."

"But even if we do get out of here, how would we get back home?" Angelica asked.

"Yeah, that's the thing really. That's the main part of the plan I really need to figure out. If they have a teleport then I could use it but if I'm here faking injury…," the Doctor said trailing off while rubbing his chin.

"Well, I can do it," Melissa said.

"You sure?" the Doctor asked, taking a moment to stop in his pacing.

"If it means finding our way to freedom then I'd do anything to help."

The Doctor walked over to Melissa and brought her to the far corner of the room. "We're going to have to be timing this very closely all right. You would have a _very_ short window where they come into the room and we run out. I don't want anyone to be left behind."

The Doctor looked at her very seriously when Melissa began to smile.

"What is it? Why are you smiling?" he asked a bit confused.

"Faking a spasm is one thing; I've got a better idea."

"And that would be?" the Doctor asked confused.

"Watch and learn Doctor."

Melissa took a deep breath and let out a gut wrenching scream of pain even though the Doctor had not so much as laid a finger on her. All of the captives turned to look but the Doctor only shrugged not knowing what she was doing.

"Melissa, what are you doing?" the Doctor asked putting his hands on her shoulders.

She screamed again and the Doctor put his hand over her mouth to stop her. The cell door opened and a few of the alien guards stood there trying to see what was wrong so they could stop it. Everyone stared at each other before the Doctor finally yelled "Run!" and they did as he asked.

He gripped Melissa's hand tightly and they all took off down the corridor.

* * *

I thank you all again for taking the time out to read this. I do hope you are enjoying it. There's still more to come.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own piece of the Doctor Who franchise. Others do though.

Snow day today! Here's the next chapter.

* * *

"Run! Run! Run! Run! Faster!" the Doctor shouted while turning a corner. He and everyone else of course ran full speed right into several of the aliens causing them all to fall over. Melissa got to her feet immediately and encouraged everyone else to do the same. The Doctor gave the aliens a sinister grin and again led the way.

"What're we looking for?" Melissa asked as they rounded another corner.

"Teleport. Fastest way to get off a ship I think," the Doctor said looking at all the closed doors as they went by.

"What would it look like exactly, this teleport?"

"Something that looks like a doorway but isn't. Oh, what I wouldn't give for my sonic screwdriver right now; could've tracked something down ages ago! "

They turned another corner and ran into some more aliens however they all managed to stop just before crashing into anyone. Just beyond them though, the Doctor could clearly see an archway.

"By Convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation I order you lot to cease and desist," the Doctor said stepping forward.

As he walked, the other prisoners kept in step behind him.

"If you don't do as I ask I swear to you I will-"

The Doctor cut it short as everyone ran forward and into the teleport. He tapped a few keys and the whole thing lit up.

"Ta," he said and everyone vanished in a flash of light.

**

* * *

**Rose was walking back to the office-area to hand back a file when her mobile rang. "Rose Tyler," she said by way of answering.

"Rose, oh it's wonderful to hear your voice again."

She knew that voice; she'd know it just about anywhere. "Doctor? Is it really you?"

"The one and only. Well...the one and only of this universe. At this moment in time. Right now-"

Rose cut off his babbling before it got out of hand. "Where are you? Is everyone all right?"

"We're all here. At least I think it's everyone. Around twenty of us or so I'd say believe it or not made it through the teleport. Haven't really had a proper moment to count everyone though. Still at the mansion then?"

"Yeah, everyone's still here working," Rose said rubbing the back of her neck and biting back her tears.

"Excellent. Come to think of it I think we're only a few blocks away. We'll be there in ten. Minutes that is."

"Right, see you then." She was about to hang up when she stopped herself. "Oh and Doctor."

"Yeah," he said.

"I'm glad you're all right." Rose hung up then and ran to tell the others.

**

* * *

**"All right you lot, don't say a thing to anyone about where we're going." The Doctor pushed the special code to open the front gate, checking behind his shoulder after pressing each button making absolutely sure no one saw anything. The gate opened and he led everyone right to the front door. "Now I don't want you lot oo-ing and ahh-ing," he said, pushing the doorbell.

A loud clanging from somewhere far off sounded and immediately the door opened and something pink and yellow and squealing flew into the Doctor's arms. He lifted Rose up off of her feet and both of them squeezed the other tightly.

"Ooo you're back. Thank goodness you're back and safe!"

"It was just a simple matter of outsmarting them."

The Doctor and Rose let go and she motioned for everyone to come inside. "Welcome to Torchwood," Rose announced to the rest as they came to the main hub of set up laptops and people walking back and forth with either mobiles or the few who continued using ear-pieces. "Everyone needs their stories catalogued; anything you can tell us will be most helpful in our understanding of this new species of aliens not yet known to us. After that we'll you all in touch with your families so you can get home. Any questions?"

"Are you the Vitex heiress?" one of the males asked with waggling eyebrows.

"Any relevant questions?" the Doctor asked annoyed.

"Hang on, that's where I knew your face from," Melissa said walking forward, waving a finger at the Doctor. "Your face was all over the papers a few months ago. '_Is he the one?'_ the articles kept saying. That was you, with her."

"Yes, I'm the heiress and this man is one of my best friends in the world who I found after an incredibly long and distant search," Rose said, "Now can we _please_ get back to the task at hand? We need you all to start talking. What could you all possibly have in common that would lead to you being the ones abducted out of everyone else? This is the sort of stuff we need to know in order for us to do our jobs."

The Doctor was impressed; Rose had managed to say all of that in one breath.

"Now form a line please and the sooner we do this, the sooner you'll get to go home for Christmas."

Everyone did as she asked though Melissa still looked like she wanted to ask some more questions.

"Pete in his office?" the Doctor asked.

Rose nodded while pinching the bridge of her nose and the Doctor have her a quick squeeze on the shoulder before walking off. Rose turned then and came face to face with Melissa Jones.

"So Vitex is a subsidiary of Torchwood?" Melissa asked with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms.

"Sort of."

"Strange bedfellows," Melissa said.

"Very strange," Rose said before the two girls dissolved into giggles. "So Melissa Jones," Rose said, extending her hand which the other girl shook, "I visited with your family earlier. They're a bit worried but I promised to call when I had information. When you're finished, we can give them a follow-up."

"All right, that sounds good."

After a few more minutes of awkward silence, someone put a hand on Rose's shoulder causing her to jump and turn to see Pete standing there, the Doctor just behind him. She didn't have very long to dwell on that because Melissa's screams were followed by every other female's that had been abducted.

* * *

Thanks very much for reading. Hope you enjoyed it.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own any piece of the Doctor Who franchise. It instead belongs to those who created it in the first place and then those who brought it back for a new generation to continue to fawn over.

Sorry about leaving you all hanging last week. Thank you for reading it. Here's the next which I hope you'll all enjoy.

* * *

Every single woman that had been onboard the Epitheca L't ship, about fifteen of them in all, was screaming as though their lives depended on it.

Rose grabbed Melissa by the shoulders and gently tried to shake her out of it. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Melissa attempted several times to answer but continued to scream, opened her eyes and swallowed even. Suddenly all of the women collapsed and everyone moved from their workstations to help.

"Get them to the makeshift infirmary right away," Pete said picking up one of the teenage girls and carrying her himself.

The Doctor grabbed Melissa and Rose followed behind him. Within the next twenty minutes or so, Torchwood placed all of the girls on beds, hooked them up to monitors and a few of the medical doctors were examining them.

"There isn't much we can do right now," the Doctor said putting an arm on Rose's shoulder, moving her outside the door.

"Should we contact the families?" she asked.

"I'd...wait a bit. We don't want to give them any false hopes if there isn't a chance..." The Doctor trailed off and walked away with his hands in his pockets. Rose felt cold without him by her side so she followed him into the kitchen where he was making himself a cup of tea.

"How long...?" he began to ask, when Rose answered,

"Seven hours. Still isn't Christmas yet."

"Right," he said sounding much more like a certain red head than normal.

The Doctor brought his cup to the table and began to prepare it to his liking while Rose looked in the cupboard and found the chocolate biscuits the Doctor liked best. He took them without another word and began to stir it in his tea rather than use a spoon.

"So what happened up there?" Rose asked.

"When I first woke up, I was in some sort of strange white cell..."

The Doctor told her in great detail just what went on, who was on his side, who was against him, the vocal inhibitors, escaping, everything.

"I wish I still had my sonic though," he said wistfully. He finished the remains of his tea and was totally unsuccessful in hiding the yawn he didn't want escaping.

"I think you need a bit of a lie down," Rose said in a worried tone of voice.

"What; no. Bloody humans and always getting run down. I'm never going to get used to this."

Rose snickered (which he heard and ignored) before taking his arm and leading him to the foyer where one of the staff held them up.

"We still need your description of the situation Jon," the man said.

"He'll give it after he has a proper nap," Rose said just as the Doctor opened his mouth to respond himself.

Rose dragged him away and back up the stairs again to her old bedroom. "Just stay in here and rest for at least an hour or two all right. Please, for me," she pleaded using her puppy-dog eyes.

The Doctor knew he had lost this round but that didn't mean he was happy about it. He sat down just as she shut the door, laid on his back and looked up at the ceiling. Against his will, his eyes slowly shut and he drifted off into a deep slumber.

**

* * *

**A few hours later, he returned downstairs to see how the situation was moving along. He found Rose with the rest of the Torchwood staff still trying to find the best way to take down the spaceship still in the sky above.

"It wouldn't be right to just shoot it down. There isn't much…honor in that," Rose said.

"Honor? Among people who kidnapped our own from the streets? Then what do you suggest we do, hmm?" one of the other leading scientists asked.

"We just need to go in there and have a simple parlay. Easy," the Doctor said, unconsciously taking Rose's hand into his. She squeezed his back in reassurance.

"And how do you plan on getting up there then Stewart? They're by the bloody moon!" the scientist asked.

"You lot still have those dimension jumpers?"

"Yeah, I think we've still got one lying around somewhere. It's probably back at Torchwood headquarters though."

"All right then, you're coming with me," he said pulling Rose with him.

"But Doctor, what about-"

He only pulled a bit harder and Rose quieted down. He left Rose off on the passenger's side of the car and got into the driver's seat.

"Oh no," Rose said climbing in and putting on her seatbelt, "there is no way I'm letting you drive my carRRR!"

The Doctor sped quickly out of the driveway and down the empty streets faster than he should have been going and not really caring.

**

* * *

**Rose felt a need to kiss the pavement once she exited the car. "Never, ever am I getting into a car with you driving again!"

"You never complained this much about the TARDIS- don't answer that."

They stared up at the still slightly smoky building.

"Where do you think they'd be?" he asked as they walked up to the building.

"Dunno; basement labs I suppose."

"Oh good, hopefully it won't be as hard to reach if it was near the top."

The Doctor again took Rose's hand and they went inside. They took the stairs two at a time and once in the lab began the long search. It was long and for the majority of the time a fruitless search.

"Maybe they put them in the vaults."

"They'd better not have!" the Doctor said throwing some small, useless machine behind him which in his professional opinion was already broken beyond repairs.

Rose made a happy gasping sound and the Doctor turned to see her holding up two dimension jumpers. He grinned widely and grabbed them from her hands and immediately set off to work. That took another long time as certain circuits needed rewiring and other things needed replacing. Every time the Doctor asked for an instrument, Rose handed it to him. After almost two hours and a half, the Doctor closed the second jumper and looked down at it.

"Think it'll work?" Rose asked as he handed one to her.

"Best chance we've got right now."

The Doctor stood and put the disk around his neck as Rose did likewise. He took her hand for the third time and they looked into each other's eyes before pressing the disk and disappearing with a slight pop.

* * *

Only two more chapters left I'm afraid. Once again, I thank you for reading this story. Your support really means the world to me. Hope you all have a nice day; see you in a week. :)


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own any piece of the Doctor Who franchise. It is the property of others.

Uploading a bit early this time. We're nearing the end of the story I'm afraid. I thank you all so much for reading. I hope you enjoy the new chapter.

Italics = telepathy

* * *

Rose looked around herself and realized that they weren't standing in the lab at Torchwood anymore. Instead she and the Doctor were surrounded by sterile, white walls and closed doors. The ground also felt rather strange beneath her feet, as though they were moving.

"We on the ship?" she whispered.

The Doctor was standing slightly to her left and he nodded and put his finger to his lips telling her to quiet down. They both as one removed the disks and placed them in their pockets before taking each other's hands and walking down the long corridor. The Doctor attempted to open a few doors along the way but everything was locked.

"Remind me Rose that my next project once we get back is to start on a new sonic," he said after another failed door attempt.

"I'll personally find the supplies myself if I have to," she said back after trying a door herself.

The Doctor looked at her and smiled, giving her hand an extra hard squeeze before coming to another door. This one was surprisingly unlocked. The Doctor poked his head inside before motioning for Rose to follow him within. There weren't any lights on, but there was definitely the sound of people breathing.

"Is there a switch in here somewhere?" the Doctor asked.

Just as those words were uttered a light from above did in fact switch on. Rose gasped as the Doctor moved forward. Lying out on tables throughout the room were women. All of them had their eyes closed as though in deep slumber with wires connecting them to monitors that were watching their brainwaves. When the Doctor placed a hand upon one of their faces, they didn't so much as twitch a muscle.

"It's all right Rose, you can come closer. I don't think they'll hurt you."

"What's wrong with them?" Rose asked while walking forward.

"Well, without a proper tool to examine them with, I'd have to say some sort of coma perhaps?"

_You would be correct Doctor_, a voice to the far left said.

The Doctor and Rose turned to see a young girl, no older than ten and dressed like the other Epitheca L't people standing beside one of the sleeping women.

"And who are you?" the Doctor asked kindly.

_Maura_, she said, also kindly.

"That's a pretty name. Are your parents nearby?" he asked.

_Yes, my father is just next door and I should warn you that I don't think they'll take kindly to your woman_, Maura said pointing to Rose.

"Me?" Rose asked after a moment of shock.

The Doctor thought about it for a moment before looking to Maura again. "Do the women of your society have very many rights Maura?"

_Oh yes of course! We are the life bringers; there is no greater honor._

The Doctor nodded to her and turned to Rose, bringing her slightly far away to speak in private.

"Backwards society much?" Rose asked shrewdly.

"Well not everyone can be as socially advanced as Earth," the Doctor said with a shrug.

Rose gave him a shove before he realized what he said and continued.

"Be that as it may, I think it's obvious what happened to our captured women. The question remains how we convince them to not only let them free but their own women as well. No one should have to live like this."

Rose looked at Maura and the girl stared back at her. "Are you allowed to be here?" Rose asked.

Maura looked ashamed and shook her head. _I snuck out of lessons. Please don't tell anyone. They could have me exiled._

"What, at such a young age?" the Doctor asked.

Before she could answer, the door began to swing open and everyone hid as quickly as they could behind the tables. A man walked into the room, gave it a quick look over and left again.

"Rose, we'd better-" the Doctor said but got no further as the door opened again and two of the male guards were there with rather sharp, spear-like weapons in their hands.

"This not the loo?" the Doctor asked, sticking his thumb out behind him.

He quickly grabbed Rose's hand and made a run for it. Rose trailed slightly behind him before finally catching her bearings and catching up. Shortly afterwards though they were stopped by something that Rose would call an invisible wall. Their attempt in reverse resulted in the same conclusion.

"Damn," the Doctor murmured.

Many of the Epitheca L't men converged on them and the Doctor, while sighing in defeat, put his hands into his pockets and held onto his jumper device. Rose already held onto hers, more out of fear than anything else.

_You two are to be brought to the Highest Power to face judgment,_ one said.

The Doctor let go of the jumper. "Judgment you say? Never really been a big fan of the 'big stuff.' A quiet conversation maybe asking why you've got your women in comas and placed our own people under said coma as well might be a time better spent, eh?"

The invisible walls were lowered and the Doctor and Rose walked forwards.

"Excellent, I've still got it" the Doctor said to Rose in a self-congratulatory manner.

**

* * *

**When they arrived in the room of the Highest Power, both Rose and the Doctor were shocked to discover that this great leader was in fact a woman herself. She sat upon a throne and looked to the two travelers impassively.

_You will avert your gazes_, one of the head guards said and immediately Rose and the Doctor looked to the ground.

"Hang on a mo," the Doctor said looking to the Lady sitting on a throne-like gold seat, "no offense but why are you allowed to be here while others like yourself are placed into a never ending sleep-cycle? Seems sort of hypocritical of you."

No one said a word for several moments afterward. The Doctor looked around, slightly nervously before looking back to the Highest Power with his eyebrows raised simply waiting for an answer.

_It has been the tradition of our people dating back many millennia to be placed far within the deepest reaches our minds; a sort of dream-like state if you will. They are the source of our power running this vessel. We are the most psychically aware of our species and in our younger years until we reach mothering age we voluntarily go under. We are then awakened for a time and then brought under again._

Rose began to shake her head right away. "No, but that still doesn't explain what you did to _our_ women."

_Your women?_ the Lady asked, unsure.

"The ones that were brought aboard your ship. And the men; me included," the Doctor said putting his hands in his pockets.

_I don't quite know what you're-_

"Doctor, behind you!" Rose shouted.

Immediately the Doctor grabbed the arm of one of the males who was holding a spear, about to shove it into the back of the Doctor's head. The Doctor immediately spun the man over his head so the guard landed on the ground. Almost right after that, the other male guards began to try and attack as well. The Lady stood, closed her eyes and raised her hand. A green protection field appeared around Rose and the Doctor saving them from those attacking.

_What have you been doing?_ the Lady asked in a steely tone.

When no one said anything, she raised her hand again and several of the men fell to the ground as though they were in pain.

_We do not trust the judgment of woman-folk,_ one of the man practically spat.

The Doctor whistled. "You really shouldn't have said that one. I know that from experience," he said with a tiny bit of sympathy.

_I will deal with all of you in a moment_, she said before turning to the Doctor and Rose still under her protection, _you two I shall return to your home._

"Oh, we can do that ourselves thanks," the Doctor said removing the jumper disk from his pocket.

Rose smiled and did likewise before giving the Lady a short bow of respect.

"Ciao," the Doctor said to the men and he and Rose vanished.

* * *

Just a bit of an epilogue is left. Thanks once again for reading. Please review to let me know what you think. Hope everyone has a nice week. :)


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own any pieces of the Doctor Who franchise.

Well, we're finally at the end here. Last chapter. Thanks once again for taking the time to read this story and sending some reviews my way. I was glad to try something new for a change and I'm hoping to write more stories here in the future. It was a lot of fun. Enjoy. :)

* * *

Rose and the Doctor stood outside of Pete's mansion staring up at the sky.

"You know, I think I like this approach a bit better than the usual dangerous situations we ended up in," the Doctor said breaking the silence.

"Really?" Rose asked a bit surprised.

He paused for a beat. "Nah, I liked it better before being all hands on. I guess though, being human and all, this was a slightly better approach. Didn't exactly get hurt."

Rose walked towards the house while the Doctor continued looking up. "You gonna come in?" she asked.

"In a minute."

The Doctor put his hands in his pockets and looked all around. He took in the sight of several zeppelins slowly zooming across the sky.

"Not much the same, not so different," he murmured.

Can't feel the planet turning beneath his feet. A bit too quiet. It was a bit odd, yes but also a bit wonderful. He finally felt once again like he _belonged_ somewhere. With the Tyler's and Jake and their Torchwood. And Rose well, especially Rose. Reaching into his pocket he removed the tiny velvet box and opened it. It wasn't a ring; he wasn't really ready for that step yet. When he snuck over to the Tyler mansion one evening while Rose was working a late night shift, he told Jackie about his dilemma in finding Rose a proper gift for the holidays. He and Jackie managed to put all animosity aside and go shopping together. Jackie was the one who spotted it first. It was a simple gold stemmed and outlined rose shaped pin with little red stained glass petals and green leaves.

_"Looks just like the one my Mum bought for her when she was born. Oh, Rose really loved it; wore it just about every day from nursery school on till she was thirteen. Then she sort of grew out of it. She kept it in a special box though, right next to her bed." _

_"Are you sure she'd like it?" he'd asked when they handed it to him. _

_"I'm sure she'd love it." _

The Doctor, with an extra spring in his step, walked inside the mansion just in time for all of the women to wake up, safe and sound.

**

* * *

**Christmas morning arrived and Rose had invited the Doctor to spend the night at the mansion. After putting his gift into the pocket of his robe, he stumbled down the stairs a little after seven to find Tony and Pete sitting at the breakfast table. Pete was nursing a cup of tea while Tony was noisily making his way through a bowl of cereal.

"Merry Christmas," the Doctor said jovially as he walked over to the teapot on the stove.

"Merry Christmas _Jon_," Pete said smiling.

"Mer' Chrismas," Tony said with food still in his mouth.

"You'd better swallow before you talk otherwise you'll choke," the Doctor said taking a seat.

He and Pete talked quietly while watching the child finish his food before the Doctor brought Tony into the lounge so Pete could "make sure Santa came." There the Doctor attempted to play _Drum Hero_ while Tony watched. Currently Pete had the highest score and the Doctor was determined to beat it by New Years. Jackie blearily walked down the stairs and gave both of them a kiss on the top of the head (the Doctor wiping it a second later) and went to find her husband and a nice cup of tea and toast. Five minutes after that, Rose stumbled down as well.

"Merry Christmas," she said, kissing Tony and giving the Doctor a hug.

"He still hasn't beaten it yet!" Tony said grinning.

"Later, I'm taking this thing apart. It's broken," the Doctor said fighting the urge to throw it across the far wall.

"Why don't you see if Mum and Dad are ready yet Bro," Rose said practically pushing her brother out the door.

"Getting rid of your brother so soon?" the Doctor asked with his usual easy grin.

"He's only five; it's his childly right to enjoy the coming of Father Christmas."

"Shouldn't we go join him then? This is my first Christmas after all. Well, first as a fully formed human being anyway rather than just, you know, a hand."

Rose tried her hardest not to laugh as she pulled him along to the other room where Tony was already eagerly going through his rather large pile of wrapped gifts. When he was finished and playing with a model plane, it was the adult's turn. Pete and Rose gave Jackie a framed picture of Rose and Tony that they posed for a few weeks earlier. Pete's own gift was a smaller copy for his desk at the office. Jackie was for once speechless. Jackie then gave Pete some cologne he liked. Jackie and Pete then gave both the Doctor and Rose a surprise.

"Tickets by zeppelin, anywhere you want. During the nicer months of course," Jackie said.

"Oh Mum; thank you so much," Rose said giving her and Pete a hug at the same time. The Doctor stood and shook Pete's hand and, most surprisingly gave Jackie a kiss on the cheek.

"My turn," Rose said. She handed the Doctor a large wrapped box with a red bow on top.

Much like Tony had earlier, the Doctor eagerly ripped through the wrapping like a small child.

"Now it isn't exactly the same but I have to say it is rather similar," she said as he opened the lid.

Inside lay a long wool coat almost exactly the same as the one he owned before save for the fact that this one was rich black rather than brown.

"This was the coat that the Janis Joplin wore in this world. I saw that it was being auctioned off and placed a bid."

The Doctor stood, took off his robe and put the new coat on instead.

"Do you like it?"

"I love it. Rose it's so wizard!"

He gave her a tight hug and happily put his hands in his new pockets, clearly enjoying the absolute feel of it being on him once again. Jackie gave a soft cough and the Doctor realized everyone was looking at him, especially Jackie.

"Right," the Doctor said, retrieving his robe and searching through the pockets until he found the little box. "Merry Christmas Rose," the Doctor said handing it to her gently.

Rose opened it and gasped. "How did you-?"

"A little bird helped me."

Rather than say anything at all, Rose pinned the rose on her pajama top, stood up and walked over to the Doctor giving him a passionate kiss which he easily reciprocated. Pete stood and began to walk away in order to give them a moment; he practically needed to pull Jackie out the door with him.

When Rose pulled away, she laid her head in the crook of his neck and looked out the far window. She gasped and the Doctor turned and looked as well.

"Is that-?" he asked.

The Doctor couldn't finish however because Rose ran to the front door and pulled it open.

"It is; it's snowing! Real proper snow."

The Doctor laughed and stood behind her. He put his arm around her waist and leaned down giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Merry Christmas Rose," he said again.

"Merry Christmas Doctor."


End file.
